What's Happening at Calumet Middle School?
State Senator Jacqueline Collins, 2010 Graduation Speaker
State Senator Jacqueline Collins was the graduation speaker for the 8th Grade Class of 2010 ceremony, held on June 1st. Senator Collins spoke about following through with your dreams, demonstrating perseverance, living A Disciplined Life, and graduating from college. We truly enjoyed her message, and we sincerely thank her for her support, and for speaking during the graduation.
6th Graders Go Camping
The 6th graders went camping at Camp Edwards in Williamsbay, Wisconsin May 25th-27th. Scholars completed team building activities, played games, completed nature hikes, and learned so much about each other, and their teachers. Everyone returned home safely, and a great time was had by all. Thanks parents for trusting us with your scholars for 3 whole days!
Talent Show
Students participated and attended our annual talent show Thursday, April 29th. Congratulations to all of our participants. Special congrats go to 3rd place winners, 8th grade scholars Dilyleah Harper and Megan Pruitt from Cornell; 6th graders Khalil Ryals, Tauhaun Mason, Kristopher Moore, and Teyari Jackson from Clark-Atlanta for 2nd place; and, 1st place winner Christian Johnson, 7th grader from ISU.
Cal-Middle Celebrates Earth Day!
Perspectives-Calumet Middle School celebrated Earth Day and hosted 20 national visitors from the National Elev8 Consortium. Students from our extended-day Gardening Club planted flowers in front of the school and a tree in remembrance of Cal-Middle Engineer Bob Chase who passed away this year. Our Cuisine Club celebrated Earth Day by preparing healthy snacks for toddlers from three local child care centers. We are so proud of our scholars for truly living up to the principles of A Disciplined Life, applying the skills they learned through extended-day programs to give back to their community, and take action to beautify the surroundings of their school.
Elev8 National Consortium Visits Cal-Middle
April 23rd we celebrated Earth Day and hosted twenty visitors from across the country. Visitors toured our Health Center, 6th grade class rooms, and saw two performances from our Martial Arts and Nubian Dance Club. Our visitors were impressed with the depth of integration at our school. They learned and experienced how our students live A Disciplined Life and how they apply those 26 principles to their life daily. Our visitors learned from our scholars what it means to be an Elev8 school and how this has affected their lives, the school, and the community. The tour allowed us to expose our visitors to Elev8 in "The Auburn Gresham community" where we truly partner with each other to service the students, community, and parents holistically.
Cheerleaders Place 4th in City Competition!
The cheerleading team advanced to the City Competition! Our cheerleaders competed for the city crown on Saturday, April 24th and earned 4th place. Kudos to Diana Arnold & Gale Huddleston, Team Teachers, Crystal Hill, 7th Healthy Lifestyles teacher, Traci Norman, 6th English, and former Perspectives Parent, Gabrielle Hunter, for all of their work with our scholars.
Cal-Middle Scholars Meet with State Senator Jacqueline Collins
Cal-Middle scholars met with State Senator Jacqueline Collins Monday, April 12th to personally present their argument for safe communities and Elev8. The meeting resulted in an even greater partnership between Perspectives and Senator Collins, and afforded our scholars an opportunity to challenge our legislative leader intellectually around safe communities and gun violence. Senator Collins was quite impressed with our scholars, and so were we! As a result of the meeting, our scholars will work with Mikva Challenge, an organization that asserts and supports student leadership and civic education. Those scholars will participate in a youth leadership unit that focuses on helping our students develop 6 skills: facilitation, public speaking, critical thinking (root cause analysis), asset based mapping, active listening, and advocacy. Many of your youth already have some level of competence in these areas as shown in the Sen. Collins meeting, but the unit will work to hone and refine those skills.
The unit will conclude with a Youth Speak Out forum where young people get to talk -- in a solution based manner not complaining manner -- about how to improve their communities and how youth and adults can work together to solve problems. Thanks Tenisha Jones in leading our students in these unbelievable experiences.
Family Literacy Night April 13th
Huge kudos to Philena Pugh and Bridget Brennan for leading a fantastic Family Literacy Night on Tuesday, April 13th ! Over 20 parents and 20 students attended the event, and left with reading strategies, resources, listened to our students' authored works, and participated in book discussions. It was a great time had by all, and thanks for truly partnering with parents while challenging us all intellectually. Special thanks to Leanna Lantz, Sauda Porter, and Laura Litton for attending the event.
Quarter 3 Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences April 9th
Quarter 3 Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences were Friday, April 9th from 8am-12pm, and 1-6pm. Quarter 3 Conferences resulted in over 71% of our parents attending these crucial meetings. Congrats to Wisconsin (Karen Schmidt), UCLA (Stephanie Madziar), FSU (Erin Laueson), and Notre Dame (Eron Powell) in having the highest, conference attendance rate. Thanks Cal-Middle for partnering with parents and for conducting productive conferences.
After-School/Extended Day Programming Expo April 9th
The last session of extended-day programming for the school year begins Monday, April 12th. Students and parents may sign up for extended-day programs Friday, April 9th during Quarter 3 Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences.
Keys to Success Campaign
This is an exciting time for our school's health center! We wanted to let President Obama and the Illinois legislators hear personal stories about the positive impact school health centers have on students, families and schools. Our scholars at Cal-Middle helped to demonstrate the critical role the health center plays in their lives by completing an optional writing assignment to describe "Why the Health Center Is Important to Them," and we received over 30 letters! Just to name a few, scholars who participated are, Ronnie Davis, Doula Mitchell, Debra Wilson, Alice Johnson and Ms. Floreys 8th grade English Class. Way to go Scholars!
Elev8 City Wide Conference
The Elev8 City Wide Conference was quite a success! Dr. Barbara Eason Watkins, Chief Education Officer of Chicago Public Schools, commended Perspectives and the other Elev8 schools on their commitment to supporting education through the entire community's involvement. Mrs. Tamara L. Davis explained the "it" of Elev8, Mrs. Tenisha Jones presented two highly engaging workshops for conference attendees and Mrs. Sauda Porter, Mr. Michael Kristovic, and Ms. Angela Brooks provided a standing room only presentation that attracted learners of every age including Cal Middle Scholars!
Community Action
On February 4th, Calumet Middle Sixth Graders visited Chalmers Specialty School where young readers had an opportunity to read and be read to! Great work scholars!
Perspectives Cal-Middle Teachers Win Awards
Congratulations Rachel Crane and Karen Schmidt!!! Rachel Crane received a grant for the Baxter Biotechnology Curriculum Development Project through the Field Ambassador Professional Development program. The grant includes a field study with 2 free buses and a visit from the Renewable Energy Vehicle that runs on vegetable oil!
Karen Schmidt was awarded the Sontag Prize in Urban Education. This competitive award recognizes outstanding teaching in Mathematics, English Language Arts (ELA) as well as other disciplines. The program is generously supported by the Boston Teachers Union, Harvard Business School and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Ms. Schmidt and awardees will travel to Boston for a week-long celebration that will feature Harvard-led learning sessions, networking opportunities and special events. Prize recipients will also lead classes as part of the BPS Acceleration Academy, a new program of targeted academic support for students in need. Way to go Ms. Crane and Ms. Schmidt!
Family Literacy Night and After-School Showcase on November 24th!
Please join us for our Family Literacy Night Tuesday, November 24th in which scholars and staff will lead literacy lessons, book discussions, and activities for the entire family! Also, our after-school programs will showcase their talents and products from this fall's session. Please join us! Family Literacy Night begins at 5pm and the After-School Showcase begins at 5:30pm. Refreshments and prizes will be available.
Warrior News, our school newspaper's first issue, is out! Please read all about our scholars involvement with the News Literacy Project, Homecoming festivities, the Staff vs. Student Basketball Game, and our Healthy Lifestyles Initiative. Enjoy! Follow this link to view the newspaper: Warrior News Issue 1
Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences November 16th from 8:30-12pm and 1-6pm
Quarter 1 Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences will be held Monday, November 16th from 8:30am-12pm and from 1-6pm. Remember, both Parent and Scholar must be present in order to conference and receive the report card. We look forward to seeing you there!
The White House Visits Cal-Middle!
Adolfo Carrion is the Executive Director of Urban Affairs and Policy in President Obama's administration. In town to deliver the keynote address at the New Communities Program Conference, and because Cal-Middle is an Elev8 school, Mr. Carrion visited our school. He wanted to see concrete examples of how community schools nurture students and families in living a healthy lifestyle, improving student achievement, partnering with the community, and providing efficient extended-day programming. Mr. Carrion toured classrooms, spoke to scholars, and visited our School Health Center. Thanks to the GADC, LISC, and Access in making his visit an enjoyable experience for all!
Warrior News Reporters Meet Tribune and Nationally, Syndicated Columnist Clarence Page
Because we are an Elev8 school, we were fortunate to join Marquette School in the News Literacy Project. Our Warrior News reporters will enjoy mentoring and learning from journalists and journalism graduate students twice a week starting in January. The kick-off was held Tuesday, October 20th at Marquette School, in which our scholars met and interviewed Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune, and nationally, syndicated columnist. Look for our first issue of Warrior News on November 6th.
Hall of Fame Basketball Coach Jim Boheim of Syracuse University Visits Cal-Middle
Jim Boheim, the Naismith Hall of Fame coach of Syracuse University, was our 3rd Quarter Honor Roll Breakfast speaker. His address emphasized the importance of demonstrating a strong work ethic, being positive and supportive of each other, and graduating from college. It was a huge honor for Coach Boheim to visit our school and speak with scholars. Enjoy the pictures below from this grand occasion.
Coach Boheim
Coach Boheim with MS Boys Basketball Team
Coach Boheim with MS Girls Basketball Team
Coach Boheim with Scholars
Calumet Middle School to offer 6th grade
After offering enrollment for only 7th and 8th grade students for the past three years, Perspectives - Calumet Middle School will offer enrollment for 6th graders beginning in the 2009-2010 school year, as approved by the Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday, February 25.
If you would like more information about enrollment please click here of call 773-358-6105.
Cal-Middle Scholars Win Spring Break Sports Tournament
Perspectives-Calumet Middle School scholars participated in the "Spring into Sports" program at Englewood H.S. during spring break. Our scholars won the elementary school basketball tournament. We are the champions! The champion scholars were: Antwon Hampton, Sandy Briggs, Charkeal Eggleston, Dominque Brown, D'Angelo Hooks, Brandon Taylor, Timothy Hancox, Arthur Howard, Kenneth Little, Trejess Williams, Devian Mathis, Darrell Ollie, and McKinley Hoarde. Huge thanks to Mr. McBride for coaching our scholars to a win. Our scholars also participated in badmitton, archery, and track and field activities just to name a few. Join us in congratulating our scholars on living a healthy lifestyle!
8th Grade/Georgetown Scientists with South African High School!
Ms. Crane's 8th Grade Science class of Georgetown is investigating the quality of water and soil around Chicago through an international project called Project Afara. Afara means "bridge" in the African language of Yoruba, as the project connects our scholars with a science class at the Kayamandi High School in South Africa. We are measuring the pH value and salinity of various samples, as well as growing beet seeds in our samples to see the effects of pollution and contaminants on our city's soil and water. As we near completion of our project, we will be trading data and observations with Kayamandi High School to compare and contrast soil and water in different parts of the world. This project is developing the scientific investigation skills of our scholars, exposing them to different cultures, and strengthening our teamwork skills in the classroom.
Winter Sports: Team Photos
Girl's Basketball
Boy's Basketball
Cheerleading